VICTORIAN Health Minister David Davis will lobby his federal counterpart at the health ministers' meeting in Perth to reverse changes to the health agreement that have seen $474 million cut from Victoria's health budget.
Mr Davis said the decision by federal Treasurer Wayne Swan to "unilaterally rejig, redefine the growth factors in the health agreement" would have significant effects on Victorian health services.
He said the treasurer had used 2006 Census data as part of a revision of population growth, which had given Victoria a negative population growth figure.
He has written to federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek asking her to address his concerns about the changes and advise her that Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed population growth of 1.4 per cent - or 75,000 people - in 2011-2012.
"There is clear population growth in this year ... and that is the figure that ought to have been used," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"The federal treasurer is arguing that there is an 11,000 fall in the number of people in the Victorian population.
"That is clearly absurd and is frankly wrong."
Mr Davis said the adjustment amounted to $474 million over the forward estimates period, including $39 million in the previous financial year.
"It is a massive hit onto our health services in an unexpected way and if there is no resolution to this we're going to face a very difficult period," he said.
Mr Davis said he remained hopeful that the federal health minister would see sense and not go forward with the changes.
"There's massive growth in our suburbs, there's massive growth in our population," he said.
"We're trying to meet that demand but for health services to be told that their population is declining is like a kick in the teeth from the federal government."
He warned that if Ms Plibersek did not change the unjustified decisions, there will be a direct impact on patients.
"What it will mean is that less patients can be treated, the growth in services is reduced, people will end up waiting longer," he said.
But Ms Plibersek told reporters in Canberra there was more than $200 million in commonwealth funding available to Victoria "right now waiting to be claimed by them" for hospital and cancer centre projects.
"It's extraordinary to see the Victorian government engaging in cuts right across the Victorian health system and then turning around and looking for someone else to blame," the federal minister said.
Ms Plibersek said commonwealth funding to Victoria would actually increase by 26 per cent over the coming years.
"Almost an extra $1 billion over the next four years," she said.
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